The final feature film for the celebrated director J. Lee Thompson unfortunately isn't the kind of swan song that I'm sure many people would have preferred to see, but it delivers acceptable seedy entertainment. His final teaming with the almighty Charles Bronson features the actor as Lt. Crowe, an extremely angry vice detective with a vendetta against an especially depraved pimp, Duke (Juan Fernandez). Dukes' specialty is turning underage girls into prostitutes, so you can see how he'd raise a persons' ire. While this is going on, a Japanese man named Hiroshi Hada (James Pax) has arrived in L.A. with his family, and struggles to adjust to a different way of life where woman strive to be independent and not subservient.
There's the element of serious themes here. Not that they're explored all that well, but at least "Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects" is attempting to be more ambitious than the usual Thompson-Bronson-Cannon Group potboiler. It takes a look at the differences between American culture and Japanese culture of the times. It also gives Bronson a little more to work with by making his character an anti-Japanese xenophobe. But Thompson and screenwriter Harold Nebenzal do wallow in sleaze, much as Thompson did with the earlier Bronson collaboration "10 to Midnight". Some scenes are certain to make some viewers highly uncomfortable, especially as Hiroshis' daughter Fumiko (Kumiko Hayakawa) gets victimized over and over by Duke and his disgusting associates.
The movie is not without its silly pleasures. The most fun is seeing Lt. Crowe terrorize Duke and forcing the pimp to *swallow his own $25,000 watch*. The finale is pretty typical but reasonably rousing action movie stuff.
The supporting cast is good: Perry Lopez as Crowes' partner, Peggy Lipton as his wife, Sy Richardson as Dukes' most prominent henchman, Bill McKinney as a priest, Nicole Eggert as one of Dukes' girls, etc. Blink and you'll miss Danny Trejo, in one of his pre-stardom convict roles, near the end of the picture.
Overall, a trashy, fun action picture with an ending where you really feel, for once, that the bad guy is *really* going to get what he deserves.
Seven out of 10.
There's the element of serious themes here. Not that they're explored all that well, but at least "Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects" is attempting to be more ambitious than the usual Thompson-Bronson-Cannon Group potboiler. It takes a look at the differences between American culture and Japanese culture of the times. It also gives Bronson a little more to work with by making his character an anti-Japanese xenophobe. But Thompson and screenwriter Harold Nebenzal do wallow in sleaze, much as Thompson did with the earlier Bronson collaboration "10 to Midnight". Some scenes are certain to make some viewers highly uncomfortable, especially as Hiroshis' daughter Fumiko (Kumiko Hayakawa) gets victimized over and over by Duke and his disgusting associates.
The movie is not without its silly pleasures. The most fun is seeing Lt. Crowe terrorize Duke and forcing the pimp to *swallow his own $25,000 watch*. The finale is pretty typical but reasonably rousing action movie stuff.
The supporting cast is good: Perry Lopez as Crowes' partner, Peggy Lipton as his wife, Sy Richardson as Dukes' most prominent henchman, Bill McKinney as a priest, Nicole Eggert as one of Dukes' girls, etc. Blink and you'll miss Danny Trejo, in one of his pre-stardom convict roles, near the end of the picture.
Overall, a trashy, fun action picture with an ending where you really feel, for once, that the bad guy is *really* going to get what he deserves.
Seven out of 10.